No Man's Puppet
by NinaWhite
Summary: After finally waking up to the reality of what he has done, Loki quests for redemption. But Iron Man isn't the only one with shrapnel in his body threatening to push him over the edge. With his sanity resting on a knifes edge, will Loki rise like a phoenix or fall into the depths of darkness?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: No Common Thief

Odin couldn't see him. That was never a good sign. If Loki ever slipped from his sight it was to cause mischief. At least that had been the case before he had discovered his true parentage. Now however it signalled something far worse. He shuddered to think what his wayward son was doing. It wasn't worth raising the alarm. Loki was as good as gone. He only hoped that the guards had been left alive.

When he had found out that his son was still alive he had wept with joy, despite the price that Earth had paid. What cared he for a few thousand short lived creatures when it was his son that was paying the true price. Chained and bound Loki had returned to him, showing signs of torture the likes of which Odin had never seen. Shards of the tesseract spinning through his mind, filling him with rage and violence and a lust for vengeance that had the power to shake worlds mightier even than Asgard. He had paced in his cell like a rabid animal, speaking only to hurl vile and graphic threats.

He had thought that the treatment he had been given was working until now. The threats had become less heartfelt, turning into near formalities with neither the flourish or the fervour he had once put into them. "I'll tear your heart out and feed to you as your weeping wife watches," became "I'll snap your neck." Focussed rage became trembling, inept anger at something that couldn't be seen and that he wouldn't speak of. The pacing became worse the more his eyes cleared. He took to lashing out at the very walls of his cell.

What Odin had thought was the real breakthrough came the day they finally managed to destroy that cursed sceptre. He had heard Loki's shriek of agony from the other side of the palace. He had ran to his son's side only to find him on his knees gripping his bowed head. "What did you do?" he had gasped, blood running from his eyes, nose and mouth. Then a look of absolute horror took over his face. "What have I done?" he added in a small near whisper. He hadn't spoken for a month after that.

Perhaps he had gotten his hopes too high. Whatever Loki was doing now was surely nothing good.

The ground beneath him shook as he became aware of the armoury. A flash of fire, metal shards flying everywhere. Loki stepping over the wreckage of the Destroyer, an expression of calm consideration on his face for the first time since he had arrived home. He sneered at the tesseract as he passed it in favour of the Casket of Ancient Winters. He gave a slight smile, the sort he always thought secret, the sort he gave when he thought he had gotten away with something. Then he waved his hand over the weapon, disappearing it into whatever void he kept things in.

Loki's smile widened in a way that was not entirely pleasant and he gave his head a small shake before turning on his heel.

And in that one motion he was no longer in the armoury. He was stood right in front of Odin, hands clasped behind his back and head tilted a little to the right. "Hello father," he said, his voice measured and not without the smallest taint of malice.

"Loki," Odin replied, sadness weighing heavily in his chest. He couldn't do this. He couldn't fight his own son when there was only his own life at stake. He just couldn't. "Do you intend to try and kill me?" A short not quite laugh escaped him and he looked away for a mere moment.

"Hardly. I need the sceptre." Odin frowned. Surely he wasn't still after that abomination?

"It's been destroyed," he told the young man. Loki twitched slightly, then gave another small laugh, taking a single step forward.

"Not that sceptre," he replied, his greenish blue eyes lingering on the long golden staff he had been using as a walking stick. Something inside him froze at the tone his son was using, and he knew that Loki wouldn't take no for an answer. "Do not worry, I will return it to you once it has served my purpose."

"And why would you have need of it?" At that, the smile fell from Loki's face and a faraway look took his eyes.

"I have a lot of red in my ledger, I mean to erase it."

A blast of cold the likes of which he had not felt since the war hit him in the back. Ice crept around his body, freezing him in place as the image of Loki in front of him flickered out of existence. He strained against the ice, but couldn't move as Loki, the real Loki, stepped out from behind him. The blue fading from his skin and the red from his eyes. A wave of his son's hand and he felt the sceptre vanish from his grip.

"I am truly sorry," Loki said, not meeting his eyes until the words were already out and for the first time in so many centuries, Odin believed him without hesitation. "Guards! Your King has need of you!" he called out, taking a single step away, but a single step was enough to put him well out of reach and out of sight.

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**A/N** Well, I hope you enjoyed this. Please review ^.^


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Apologies

A lot of strange things had been happening in New York over the past few weeks. It had started small. Almost unnoticeable. Windows that had been shattered for months suddenly being whole again. No big deal. Maybe the owner of the little shop had finally received their insurance pay out and gotten it replaced. Then the broken news-stands had been repaired. No, not just repaired, out right replaced. There was no way in hell that they had been repaired when they looked brand spanking new. Next the fallen street lamps had been back how they should be and the pavements themselves were without even the tiniest crack. Better than they had been before the attack.

That was when Tony had started to get suspicious. For months the clean up work had been a slow agonising trawl as everyone tried to dodge responsibility and paying out to fix the mess. Why was it now suddenly all going smoothly? But it was when the huge rotting carcasses of the weird whale ships just suddenly disappeared over night that he set up some serious surveillance over New York. He didn't catch whatever happened to fix the power and waterlines that ran throughout the city, but he did see what happened to one of the many condemned buildings.

"Sir," JARVIS said, his voice a dull drawl. "Something odd is happening in view of camera thirty eight." Tony looked up from what he was tinkering with in his workshop.

"Throw it up on the screen," he said, wiping his hands on his jeans. The footage was crisp and clear but it was dark out there. He glanced to his watch, hiding his surprise when he saw it was just past 2am. At first the building itself caught his eye. He wasn't sure where it was, but it was one of the old ones. Made mostly of grey stone with lots of embellishment. And it was pulsing. Like a heartbeat. "What the fuck?" he muttered. With each beat more cracks closed, more stone seemed to grow. The process was slow and looked almost painful. Like a wound healing.

Then something else caught his eye. Someone standing at the bottom of the building and a strange golden flicker. "Zoom in on the guy on the street," he said, only noticing then that the street was deserted with the exception of that lone person. The image shifted, the image losing a little quality as it zoomed in. Not quite grainy, but certainly not as clear as it could be.

Tony narrowed his eyes at the figure. Even from the back they were recognisable. It was the shoulder length black hair and armour. Loki wasn't exactly the subtle sort. Though he had left the horny helmet at home. His hands were pressed against the stone of the building, gold flashing out of them like lightning but in the shape of veins sinking into the stone. His shoulders shook slightly, as though he was putting a lot of effort into whatever the hell he was doing.

There were so many things wrong with this scene. The first being why the fuck was Loki on Earth when he was meant to be locked up on Asgard?! Seriously, if he had escaped, some warning might have been nice. If this was some sort of punishment, then they still should've let at least S.H.I.E.L.D. know that he was here and what he was capable of.

The second thing was what he was doing. Why was he fixing the building? And how? Tony Stark was never one to simply let "magic" be an explanation for anything. There had to be something more tangible than just a wave of a hand. Though if this was just the most recent of Loki's actions, it would explain how things had been changing so quickly. With everything he had seen he couldn't just dismiss what he was seeing, but the why was tumbling around his brain just as much as the how.

The God of Mischief dropped to his knees about as gracefully as a rock dropping to the ground. Even from the back it was easy to see that he was panting, one hand on the pavement to prevent himself from falling to the side. He stayed there for a few moments as Tony considered waking Thor the fuck up and demanding an explanation, then Loki froze and Tony felt his stomach twist. Oh this wasn't good. This was about as far away from good as it got. Loki, looked over his shoulder, his eyes looking straight into the camera and a smile on his face that was almost feral.

This time his movements were the pinnacle of grace and elegance as he rose to his feet, every trace of fatigue gone as he straightened up and turned to face the camera. The smile was smaller now, lopsided, less threatening and more resigned as he shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. Then he leaned back and just disappeared. Blinked out of existence as if he had never been there.

"Sir," Jarvis said, interrupting his train of though. And was it just him or did the AI sound worried. "It seems you have a guest. Should I alert the rest of the Avengers?"

"Oh that won't be necessary," said an all too familiar voice from behind him. Tony lost some serious cool points when he swore and span around to face the Norse God. Tripping over some half assembled pity project and falling back against the wall, hitting his head on the screen he had been watching and struggling to stand up straight and reclaim the little dignity that he could. All while Loki watched, leaning against his work bench with amusement glittering in his eyes. "Are you quite finished?" he asked smoothly as Tony stared at him. He looked exactly as he had on the day of the invasion. Pale, tall and smug. His dark hair swept back and his black and green armour in pristine condition. The eyes though, they looked a little different. They had a tint of green to them that he hadn't noticed before and looked a little less, well, unhinged.

"Sir, my scanners are picking up at least two dozen hidden blades as well some peculiar heat readings." Loki looked up to the ceiling as though looking for someone, yet still utterly unconcerned. Not that Tony could blame him. He was pretty sure the guy could snap him in half with all the effort it took him to snap a twig and it wasn't as though any of his suits were easily accessible.

"It's as unarmed as I get," Loki responded. "Consider it a gesture of good will." Then his eyes flicked back to Tony. "Your construct is rather well made."

"Er, thanks," Tony replied, wondering what the hell was going on. "So, you make it a habit to drop in on people without warning?" he asked, the shock wearing off but the memory of a strong cold hand around his throat wouldn't leave.

"You were watching me," Loki replied with a shrug as though that had been invitation enough, his smile widening a little.

"I wanted to know who was fixing things."

"And now you do." Loki pushed away from the workbench and took a step towards him. It took all of Tony's will not try and step away.

"Why?" the inventor asked with a frown. Loki glanced away from him, eyes flitting around the workshop but not really seeing it.

"I am not Thor," he replied. His voice was measured but contained no small amount of resentment. "I do not expect others to clean up my mess."

"And you think fixing a few buildings and clearing a couple of roads is enough?" Tony snapped, anger suddenly overwhelming the little sense of self preservation he had.

"No," the God's answer was immediate if infuriatingly casual. "But I think it a start. Would you rather I do nothing?"

"I thought you were meant to be locked up in Azkaban?" Tony replied, not even wanting to think about the real answer to Loki's question. The God frowned in confusion.

"Don't you mean Asgard?"

"You know, I'll forgive you for not getting the joke since you haven't spent much time on Earth. The real point is, why aren't you locked up?" A sigh escaped the God and his shoulders slumped as he looked away.

"I grew bored of waiting to be told that I had recovered. I find myself ill suited to confinement."

"You really expect me to believe that?" Tony snapped as Loki reached out to poke at something. Then he noticed what he was going to touch and leapt forward to grab at Gods hand, his heart going into over drive for the second time in less than five minutes, crying out, "Don't touch that!"

Loki allowed himself to be stopped, his eyes slowly drifted down to the hand around his wrist with an unimpressed expression, before looking to Tony's face. "Why not?" he asked, arcing an eyebrow. It was a look that told Tony he had better have a damn good reason if he didn't want to get thrown out of another window.

"Because it's about as stable as Lindsey Lohan on a bad night!"

"What?"

"It might blow up," he deadpanned. This was worse than talking to Capsicle. A look of realisation crossed Loki's face and he took a step back, taking his hand away from Tony without any visible effort.

"Ah, my apologies. I am not yet accustomed to this Midgardian form of sorcery." The God eyed the half put together not quite discarded machinery with mild distrust before stepping a little further away. "On that note, there is something else I have been meaning to do while here." That was it. He was going to die. Loki was going blast him with a spell, or stab him or reach over and snap his neck or-

He was going to drop gracefully down onto his knees, resting his forearms on his thighs with his palms up and bow his head. What the flying fuck?

"I have wronged you Antony Stark, Man of Iron," he started, his voice bordering on humble. Seriously, had Tony stepped into some alternate universe. He stood stock still, eyes wide like a deer in the headlights and staring at the top of Loki's head waiting for the punch line. This had to be some sort of twisted joke. "While I was not in my right mind, I still went out of my way to make my assault against you personal. I used your tower as the staging for the invasion for no other reason than to anger you and I threw you out of your own window. I owe you a great debt and offer you my apologies and an oath that I will repay you for these slights."

Tony kept staring at the kneeling God. Loki didn't move, at least not at first. This seriously was not the way he had expected his evening to go. Of all the things he had expect to ever happen in his life receiving two apologies from Loki in almost as many minutes was not one of them. Hell, getting one out of the guy didn't seem to be even remotely possible.

The longer Loki stayed as he was, the more Tony began to feel uncomfortable. The silence stretched on and on and he started to get the impression that he was meant to do something. What it was he had no idea. The memory of freefall, of his back hitting hard glass and not stopping, of a painful grip on his throat. All of it came at once and Tony had no idea if he risked something worse by reacting in the wrong way. He only realised how long he must have been staring when Loki shifted, tilting his head a little so that he could look up to the engineer without raising his head.

Tony swallowed, then took a deep breath. "Erm, okay, that's er, good I guess," he said, holding his hand out in an offer to help the God up. Loki blinked at the gesture, the faintest shimmer of disappointment crossed his features before he schooled himself into indifference and stood up without any help, leaving Tony to awkwardly withdraw his hand. He had the horrible feeling that he had just royally messed that up, but Loki wasn't trying to kill him, so he counted that as a win.

The God turned away, either really inspecting more of his workshop or merely pretending to so he could avoid looking at him. "While I am here I may as well warn you," the God said, his voice oddly casual, as though whatever the hell had just happened had been a figment of his imagination. "Something by far worse than me is on its way to your sorely unprepared planet. I am doing all I can to delay him, but the fragments he used to control me are still in place. If when he arrives I fall to him again, do make sure that someone kills me before I do even more damage. I detest being made to dance to another's song."

Before Tony could even think to respond, Loki took a single small step forward and with a slight golden shimmer he disappeared before his foot even hit the floor.

"JARVIS? That did just happen right? Loki was really here. I wasn't hallucinating from the fumes coming off the prototype was I?"

"No sir, you were not hallucinating. Would you like me to alert the other Avengers now?" came his AI's response.

"No, not really any point now. It'll keep until morning." He let out a shaky breath, running his trembling hands through his hair. "I need a drink."

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**A/N** Wow, no reviews for chapter 1. That's a first.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Who Said New York was Dull?

"Are you seriously telling me," Fury began, his hand already covering his face as sat slumped in the chair at the head of the table, the rest of the Avengers taking up the rest of the table and Tony remaining standing beside the screen. "That Loki, the guy who brought an alien army to New York, the psycho that tore out a guys eye-"

"Watch your tongue when you speak of my brother," Thor interrupted. Tony couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. Natasha turned away slightly to hide her own exasperation, Clint sank down his chair, Bruce bit his lip and Cap's hand went to forehead. Fury just ignored him.

"The guy that brainwashed three of our best employees and tried to bring down _my damn hellicarrier_," because they all knew that was the bit that really got Fury's back up. "Is the reason we've been getting reports of things just spontaneously being fixed around New York?" Tony made a show of pretending to think for a second or so before replying.

"Yep. Jarv, why don't you show them what we found last night?"

"Streaming the video file now sir," was the swift response and the screen sprung to life beside him.

"Is that building fixing itself?" Clint asked.

"Magic," Thor said, sounding somewhat confused. "Very difficult magic that few would be able to perform." The camera zoomed in on the cause of the magic, turning Thor's confusion in shock. "I did not think my brother had the power for such a thing."

"Well, at least it takes it out of him," Cap said quietly as he watched Loki fall over.

"Yeah, but what happens next isn't much of a comfort," Tony replied, still not entirely sure how he felt about last night.

"Did he just _sense_ that damn camera?" Clint asked, not managing to keep the horror from his voice as Loki seemed to look straight at them.

"Father said that he was developing the Sight," Thor said, as if that explained anything. Then his jaw dropped as Loki blinked out of existence. "That is not something he should be able to do. Even the Allfather cannot simply disappear like that."

"Want to see where he popped up again?" Tony said with false brightness. "Cue up the next one Jarv."

"Certainly sir."

"Are you shitting me?" Clint cried out as Loki shimmered into existence behind the Tony on the screen, casually leaning back against his cluttered work bench. "This guy can just pop up where ever the fuck he wants?"

"It hasn't got to the good bit yet. I'm still not convinced half of this was real."

"There's something better than you screaming like a girl and falling over your own junk?" Natasha asked, eyes on the screen.

"What are you calling junk?" he snapped with a glare as he half heard himself ask why Loki was there. Thor's face fell at his adoptive brother's unprovoked jibe and Tony hoped he wouldn't be doing the kicked puppy thing for too long this time.

"I got that one," Steve said with almost childish glee at Tony's Harry Potter joke, then not long after that, "Who's Lindsey Lohan?"

"Be thankful you don't know," Tony muttered before going on to say, "now this is the bit that blew my mind."

He watched as Loki lowered himself onto his knees and gave his apology. It still wasn't quite enough to convince him hadn't just imagined the whole thing. From the little he knew about Loki he hadn't pegged him as the sort to say sorry even if was in the wrong and from the truly hilarious look on Thor's face he guessed that his estimations had been right.

"I have only ever seen my brother formally apologise twice before this, and one of the those was to take the blame for something that I had caused." The disbelief on the Thunder Gods face twisted into something far less comfortable and he flinched as the digital Tony offered his hand to Loki. "I take it this is not something you do here?"

"Let me guess, I screwed up."

"I'll explain the custom to you another time my friend. For now it is enough to say that he will consider his apology rejected," Thor said, his eyes never leaving the screen, his expression still slightly disbelieving as Loki got to his feet and began to speak again.

_"Something by far worse than me is on its way to your sorely unprepared planet. I am doing all I can to delay him, but the fragments he used to control me are still in place. If when he arrives I fall to him again, do make sure that someone kills me before I do even more damage. I detest being made to dance to another's song."_

The clip finished and the screen went blank again, leaving the room in almost painful silence as the chaos Gods words sank in.

"Worse than Loki," Nick said with a sigh, leaning forward and putting his elbows on the table so that he could brace his head in his hands.

"Did Loki just say he was being controlled?" Natasha asked, gesturing at the screen.

"It definitely sounded like that," Bruce chimed in, biting on his thumb nail.

"He was," Thor cut it, not meeting anyone's eye. "When I took him home he was examined. He bore signs of being tortured. Weeks old wounds that had not healed in the right way and there were seven tiny shards of the tesseract lodged in his mind."

"Wait, there were bits of an alien weapon stuck in his brain?" Clint asked, sounding horrified. Then at Thor's grim nod, he added, "suddenly a tap on the chest doesn't seem so bad."

"When my brother fell into the abyss he was already fragile of mind. The Allfather believes that the torture was to worsen this, to make controlling him easier. The sceptre he was wielding also played some part in it, though I do not understand that as well as perhaps I should. Magic has always been more his domain. We thought him near well again once the foul thing was destroyed. But," he trailed off, rising from his seat and looking away from them all.

* * *

"He escaped," the Director filled in, his single eye glaring at the God of Thunder as Loki stumbled into the side of a building on the busy street, his head spinning from the double vision and his ears feeling as though they were about to pop from the strain of hearing two different places at once. He tried shutting his eyes for a moment, but that didn't really help much. Damn, unpredictable, difficult to control, useless-

"And stole two of Asgards most powerful weapons in the process," Thor added awkwardly after clearing his throat and artfully avoiding the gaze of everyone there. Oh, so they were talking about him. Perhaps the Sight wasn't quite so useless after all. Starks hand covered his face and the Director shot to his feet, hands slamming down on the table.

"And you didn't tell us this sooner why?!" he yelled. Thor shifted his weight from to foot to foot like a scolded child, then reached up to scratch at the back of his neck.

"Odin forbade me from telling any human of it unless it became an issue." Another pause, another shift. "Our father believes that Loki may going after whoever forced his hand and seeking to repair what he has done." The thunder God even had the audacity to brighten, if not outright smile before continuing and Loki couldn't help but feel a swell of anger at the damn fool. "And he has been. Why else would he have been repairing the city?"

"Oh I don't know," Fury replied, a vein standing out on his neck and using a somewhat mocking tone of voice. "Maybe to lull us into a false sense of security?"

A blaring siren rushing past him with brightly flashing red and blue lights snapped his senses back to his body so sharply that his hold on the wall fell and he stumbled even further, shaking his head to try and clear it. Shame, the conversation had just been getting interesting even if the shift of perception had been something of a shock.

Still blinking from the after effects of a power he was not yet accustomed to, he watched the flock of flashing vehicles speed down the road and then around the corner. What did that terrible noise mean again?

Oh yes, those cars belongs to the keepers of law and order in this place. And if there were that many of them all speeding to one place then something big must be happening. Sighing, Loki pinched the bridge of his nose. _So much for taking an hour off_, he thought as he stepped into the nearest alleyway, transforming his suit into his hunting leathers with barely a thought and ignoring the slight golden flicker. His attention was better left to other things.

The network of runes he had sewn throughout the city for a start. Each one flickered like a candle in his mind as the cars he wished to track triggered them, letting him follow with ease. He felt them come to a stop relatively close and teleported after a moments wait to make sure they hadn't simply stopped for the lights.

He reformed in the street, far enough away that no one would notice him but still close enough that he could easily see what was going on. The guards were already shepherding people away from the large treasury like building. What was it called again? A bank? "Excuse me sir," one of those police people said as he began to walk towards the building. He bit back his irritation as they even put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, forcing himself to remember that he was here to fix things and that snapping someone's wrist was most definitely not helping. "You really shouldn't get any closer. We're cordoning off the area for public safety." Forcing a charming smile, he turned his eyes to her. She was pretty enough but the uniform did her no favours.

"Do forgive me officer," he said, gently taking her hand from his shoulder and pressing his lips against her knuckles. She blinked in surprise, her cheeks flushing red. "I was merely passing through. Could I trouble you for an explanation of what's happening? My sister works in this," he glanced to building, hoping he had picked up the right term for the place. "Bank, and I fear for her safety." He slowly slipped his fingers down hers to let go of her hand.

"Erm," she murmured like a flustered virgin before clearing her throat and pulling her professional demeanour back into place. "I assure we'll do everything we can to get your sister out safely." She bit her lip and glanced at the building with a frown.

"Please, tell me what's happening in there," he pleaded, leaning in close and making sure to give a nervous looking swallow.

"Okay," she relented with a guilty sigh. "But don't tell anyone I told you this. There's a hold up in there. A few desperate robbers with guns and about twenty hostages. We're just waiting for a negotiate-"

"Oh is that all?" he interrupted, dropping all pretence of being interested in the mortals existence.

"Wait, what?" she said in startled confused.

"Well, that's nothing that good old fashioned violence can't solve," he explained as though to a small child before abruptly turning away and striding towards the bank.

"Wait, sir, you can't just-"

"Stay out of my way mortal," he snapped, spinning back around to face her and not bothering to hide the wildness he knew was in his eyes. It had been far too long since he had torn something apart and the lingering anger from his rejected apology last night was rearing it's ugly head. "You are in need of a hero, and while I am no hero I assure you I can get the hostages out of that building alive." He grabbed her wrist, stepping right into her personal space. It barely took a thought to send a spark of magic into her to make her feel compliant and suggestible. "Now do your duty and keep the people of this city at a safe distance." Her eyes glazed over a little and shook her head as if to clear it.

"Of course sir," she muttered, sounding a little confused as he released her wrist. "Move back people," she called out, walking past him. He greatly disliked having to resort to magical manipulation, preferring to use more traditional means of manipulation, but at times even his silvertongue simply wouldn't do the job.

Finally free of obstacles, he strode purposefully toward the bank, looking forward to finally getting his hands dirty in the considerably more bloody way. And then it happened again. That damn distortion that shook his balance and nearly had him falling over as his perception split and shifted in a nauseating turn. How did Odin and Heimdall control this? Looking out of his own eyes was often confusing enough never mind looking out of some disembodied eyes that were . . .

That were set into the ceiling of the lobby in the bank and looking down over the cowering hostages and the six men with those annoying gun things. Useful. Very useful, yet still incredibly irritating. He took a shaky step forward, hoping this wasn't going to interfere too much with what he needed to do. The hostages were on the floor, some of them weeping and shaking, one or two catatonic and one, well, one was standing up.

She was tall and slender, wearing a grey pinstriped skirt suit, all prim and proper except for her trembling form and the tears in her eyes. Her not quite red hair swept into a knot at the base of her skull. "Please don't do this," she whimpered as one of the men pointed a gun at her. There was something irritatingly familiar about that woman and Loki was sure he had seen her somewhere before though he simply couldn't place where. A news paper perhaps?

"Should've thought of that before trying to be a hero," the human pointing the gun at her said. Her expression turned to grim defiance, as though she outright refused to die a whimpering coward. That was when he realised who it was. She was Stark's woman. And she was about to get shot.

"_Son of a whore_," he cursed in his mother tongue, teleporting and hoping that he got there in time as the woman threw her hands over her face and the assailant pulled the trigger."

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**A/N** Thank you to wbss21, Hieiko, mrschultz and KieraPSl for reviewing the previous chapter. I really appreciate the feedback.

Also, groups scenes like that are a bitch to write.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Ice Latte in Autumn

Peppers heart was going like a jackhammer. She was going to die. She was going to die in a bank because she had just wanted to stretch her legs and she'd been too damn dumb to keep her mouth shut. She tried to face this with bravery. She tried to make Tony proud, but all she saw when she looked at the barrel of that gun was that enormous abomination of a suit that Obadiah had created, the barrel of the gatling gun whirring as it pointed at her.

Her instincts kicked in as she saw the thug move to pull the trigger. She threw her arms up and squeezed her eyes shut as if it would do any good. The crack of the gun shot was deafening and rang out for what seemed like an eternity. She was still breathing. Her heart was still beating so hard and fast that it was a wonder it was still in her chest. She had thought being shot would hurt more. Or maybe the bullet had hit her in the head and killed her instantly, but the only thing that had changed was iron grip at the top of her arms.

An iron grip? Tony?

Pepper forced her eyes open only for them to be met by leather and green with gold trim. Not a glowing blue arc reactor, no red, no metal. Her eyes turned upwards to the face of her saviour. Pale skin and perfectly clean shaven, long dark hair swept back, sharp not quite green eyes and handsomely pointed features. He gave her a small not quite reassuring smile as she stared up at him.

The distant wavering call of "What the fuck?!" rang out as the man who had just saved her life glanced over his shoulder with a shark like grin. Only for his eyes to widen and for him to yank her close and force her to bow her head against his shoulder with a firm hand. A flurry of gun shots filled the air, but this man held her close, shielding her with her own body as though the bullets were rain. She knew she was shaking, trembling like scared child, but who the hell wouldn't be?

The gun fire came to an end and the stranger loosened his grip on her to half turn towards the bank robbers. "Oh because shooting me worked so well the first time," he said, his voice filled with derision. Then, looking back to her he added, "Lady Potts, if you could," while gesturing to ground. She gave a shaky nod and carefully lowered herself to the cold tiles as he took a step towards the thugs who were now hastily reloading their guns., Clips and bullets and shot gun shells fumbling from their shaking hands.

"Who in their right mind would choose to do this in New York? The Avengers headquarters is but two miles in that direction," the man in leather began, sounding in equal parts annoyed and baffled as he pointed. "And at the moment it houses no less than six of your heroes, one of which is a God. The Fantastic Four, which by the way I find to a singularly stupid name, live a mere mile in that direction." Again he pointed to clarify, a strange sort of blood lust slowly seeping into his voice as he spoke. "This city also houses Daredevil, Spiderman and more second rate champions than I care to recall.

"And then there's me." The malice overtook any other emotion, twisting his voice into something dangerous and dark. "An exceptionally bored force of chaos."

Pepper couldn't take her eyes off of him throughout his little speech. How he'd slowly sauntered towards the robbers with his hand behind his back. How his leather coat didn't even have a scuff on it from all the bullets. How his every movement seemed calculated and predatory.

His hand flicked out as one of the thugs finally got their gun loaded and levelled at him. The gun slipped around the thugs hands, shimmering and morphing into a snake. He screamed as the serpent sped around his arm and struck repeatedly at his neck.

Peppers saviour moved then. Quick as a flash a knife flying from his hand to strike the furthest robber. A spurt of blood following him to the ground as her hero let loose a maniacal laugh. He dashed forward as another robber opened fire on him. The lunatic ran straight into the gun fire then suddenly he simply wasn't there anymore. The smallest glimmer of gold and then just gone.

And there was three of him. Laughing manically from behind the group of robbers, face split into a predatory grin. The robbers opened fire on all three of him as Peppers head span from what she was seeing but she couldn't take her eyes away and only noticed that there were four, not three, as another one dropped down from above them. The leather of his coat flapping as he fell. The robber crumbling like wet card board beneath him as he landed, the other three of him shimmering out of existence as he ran at the next thug.

Oh gods she shouldn't feel so safe watching someone enjoy violence this much. He was even laughing. Manic, cruel, joyous laughter. At least with Tony she knew he was doing it because he thought it needed doing, but this strange wonderful man seemed to be spilling blood just because it was fun and he had the chance.

It was the grace he killed with, Pepper decided. It stopped it from seeming real. No one should be able to snap someone's neck like that, disappearing before the body even hit the floor and the rest of the robbers realising where he was or might be. The leather clad hero stabbed the next one in the back while grinning like a Cheshire cat then kicking him away to crumple to the floor twitching and sputtering.

"Don't kill me!" the last one cried, throwing his gun to the floor and backing off as the stranger stalked towards him. "I give up! I give up!" His hands were up as he pleaded, but the stranger didn't stop in his advance. The thug started babbling, coherence leaving him the closer the stranger got.

"Wise choice," the leather clad not quite hero said, almost gently putting his hand to the terrified man's face. "Sleep." The moment the word had left his mouth, the thug stiffen and then collapsed to the side.

"It's safe for you to get to your feet now," he said, looking over his handy work while easily projecting his voice. Pepper clambered to her feet the moment he spoke, her legs still shaking and her heart still pounding.

* * *

Not killing that last one had been more difficult than Loki had anticipated. The manic energy his madness gave him was difficult to pull back from and he had not put himself in such a situation since his escape from Asgard. Every fight he had gotten into had had no bystanders, no innocents to get caught in the cross fire.

Forcing himself to keep breathing slowly and steadily as the hostages and the guards milled behind him, none of them choosing to come close, Loki looked to his hands and wondered if teleporting now would be dangerous. It was a form of magic that need a clear mind. Shifting himself into the shoes of a projected image was easier, but he needed to be able to see what he was doing for that.

Part of him was wishing he had simply left this entire situation alone. He had never had to deal with the aftermath of good deeds before, Thor's presence had always stolen that from him regardless of which of them had done the work. Should he just walk out and not speak to anyone? He had no desire to bask in the glory of his deeds like his brother always did, but without being able to teleport and with it being so irritatingly light he couldn't simply disappear.

"Excuse me," came a steady and pleasant female voice. His eyes darted to the speaker, surprised that any of these weak creatures would approach him after what they had seen him do.

"Lady Potts," he replied, forcing his surprise down as the woman looked at him with wide eyes, her right hand shaking slightly. "I am glad to see that you are well after all this unpleasant business." She frowned a little, taking a deep breath and drawing herself up taller.

"How do you know who I am?" she asked. At that, he couldn't help but give a small lopsided smile.

"I may not be from your realm, but I do make a point of reading the news papers. You aren't exactly unknown to your people." A dark blush spread across her cheeks and his smile widened fraction as he realised that she actually didn't know who he was. "Forgive me, I forget my manners," he added, giving a small bow that would be suitable for a minor noble on Asgard. As far as he could see, Tony Stark was this worlds equivalent to a baron or a duke and his Lady should be afforded the respect due someone of that station. "I am Loki of Asgard."

"Pepper Potts," she replied, holding her hand out with a sheepish smile. He took it and placed a quick and polite kiss on her knuckles only for her flush an even darker red. "Not that you didn't already know that."

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you face to face Lady Potts," he said before turning to walk away, only for her voice to call after him before he could take a third step.

"Do you like coffee, Loki?" He paused and looked back to her, confusion in his mind and his eyes. "There's a really nice little cafe around the corner from here. I mean, you just saved my life, the least I could do is get you a coffee or something." He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. But how long had it been since someone had actually chosen to be in his company? Since someone had sought him out just to spend time with him?

"Why not," he replied with a smile. The Lady Potts gave a sigh of relief, quickly moving to his side. They were nearly at the barrier that the city guard had set up before they were approached and he found out that Stark's woman was not the meek and nervous thing that he had though her to be.

"We're going to need to get a statement before you leave," someone in a uniform said, their voice gentle but trying to be commanding. The Lady Potts span on her heel, standing as tall as she could and looking them straight in the eye.

"Officer," she began in a deceptively friendly voice. "I understand that you have a job to do, but so do I." Her hand went into the white leather bag she was carrying only to pull out a small white card and hold it out to the guard. "You can contact me for a statement during my office hours tomorrow, now however I need to get back to running Stark industries."

"Of course ma'am," the officer replied, paling a little as if they had only just realised how out of their depth they were, not stopping them as they swept past.

"That was impressive," he said once they were out of ear shot as he easily kept pace with her.

"Well Tony's given me plenty of practise at dealing with difficult people," she replied with a sly smile. Oh Stark truly had caught himself an impressive woman here. Not what he would look for in a consort, but he could admire her skills all the same. And her patience if his early impression of Tony Stark was an accurate one.

The cafe she led him to was small, almost cosy. It was odd to be in such a normal place, surrounded by people that were doing nothing but the mundane. He collected a few odd looks before realising that he was not only still wearing his armour, but that it was lightly speckled with blood. That would certainly explain it.

"What can I get you?" Lady Potts asked, her own eyes on the board that detailed the available drinks. His own gaze found the small list of iced drinks, ignoring the hot ones.

"Just an ice latte please," he mumbled, suddenly feeling oddly embarrassed and most definitely out of practise at this sort of thing. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"It's the middle of November and you want an ice latte?" she asked with mirth in her voice as though she hadn't just watched him kill five people right in front of her. It was oddly comforting to not have her fear him.

"I've never been fond of hot drinks," he replied with obviously fake hurt in his voice. Her smirk turned into a full grin as she sauntered up to the counter. The young woman behind the counter gave him a puzzled glance before taking their order from the Lady Potts and telling them that she would bring it to their table. Loki felt somewhat awkward watching her hand over payment and had to forcefully remind himself that she had offered and that such things were common in this realm.

They found a table by the window and settled into surprisingly comfortable conversation. He avoided giving her straight answers when she asked about what he was doing in the city, but he didn't get the impression that she was actually fishing for information. Which was rather odd. The shop girl brought them their drinks just as she insisted on being called Pepper rather than Lady Potts and he wasn't entirely sure what he had said, largely because she had cut him off half way through his sentence, but he had referred to her as Stark's consort and suddenly she blushing bright red again.

"Oh, me and Tony aren't, well, not anymore anyway." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "We're still close friends though, and I still work for him, but we're not involved anymore. Not like that."

"I apologise," Loki said, surprised at how sincere he was. "I did not intend to pry."

"It's fine," she said, stirring her hot chocolate and not looking at him. "The break up was pretty clean, it was almost a relief to be honest. Things just sort of," she sighed and tapped the spoon on the white mug before placing it onto saucer. "Fizzled out." Loki took a sip of his own milky iced coffee rather than reply, not sure what he should say in response. He had gotten the impression from the news papers he had read that Stark and Pepper were all but married.

The tension was broken when music blared out of the Lady Potts bag. She clicked her tongue in annoyance as she searched for whatever was emitting the noise. "I wish I knew how he kept changing the damn ring tone to this Black Sabbeth crap." He wondered who she was talking about until he noticed that the music was accompanied by singing, the voice clearer once free of the confines of her bag.

_Running as fast as they can_

_Iron Man li-_

"Hi Tony," she said, putting the device to her ear, only to wince and hold it away a little, the voice from the other side so loud that even he could hear every worry drenched word perfectly clearly.

"_Pep! Oh thank God, you're okay! I just saw the bank thing on the news. You're not hurt are you?"_ She sighed and rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, a soft, tender smile.

"I'm fine Tony, calm down," she said, making sure her voice was reassuring. "I'm just having a coffee before coming back to the office?"

"_Back to the office? After what you've just been through? I don't think so, I'm going to come and pick you up." At that, she sighed and rolled her eyes, but there was a fondness to the expression that reminded him of his mother's reaction when she found out about some of the fool hardy things he and Thor had done. "And I'm going to check you from head to toe to make sure you're actually fine! I am never going to make fun of you for worrying about me again." _At that, Pepper actually laughed.

"I'll believe that when I see it," she replied with a wide smile. "But really, I'm fine. I'm just treating the guy who saved my life to a coffee." Loki didn't hear anything from the other end of the conversation after that, though he wasn't sure if that was because Stark had stopped shouting or if it was because he wasn't speaking at all. "Oh, okay," she said, sounding surprised before holding the phone out to him. "Tony wants to talk to you," she offered as an explanation.

Almost timidly, he took the phone from her. He had seen these things plenty of times, it seemed that almost every mortal to have mastered basic communication owned one, but he had gone out of his way to avoid using one himself. "Hello," he said trying to keep the uncertainty from his voice as he held the small piece of technology to his ear. There were not enough words to describe how ridiculous he felt doing this.

"_Reindeer Games!" _Stark said, a note of relief to his mostly happy voice._ "I never thought I'd be glad to talk to you but you have no idea how thankful I am right now. I mean, I'm usually not this easily swayed, but seriously this is Pepper! I would do anything for that woman, seriously, there is no way I'll be able to-"_

"You're babbling Stark," Loki said, with a sigh as Pepper looked away with a knowing grin and a slight shake of her head.

"_Right, sorry." _There was a brief pause and Loki could practically feel the other man trying to force his mind to slow down._ "Okay. So, thanks, for saving Pepper. Also, I had a chat with Thor about that formal apology thing you did and he explained what I was meant to do, and, well." _Another pause, this one slightly more awkward. _"Let's just say you can consider yourself punched in the face. Now can you put Pep back on before I embarrass myself even more?"_

"Of course," Loki replied before handing the small device back to the Lady Potts. A strange swell of relief filled his chest at Starks words, the sick feeling that had settled in his gut from what he had thought was a rejection of his apology eased and faded and he had to force himself to not let out a sigh of relief. Instead he took another drink of his ice latte as Pepper spoke.

"You're not picking me up Tony," she said to start, leaning back in her chair. Then she rolled her eyes and brought up her free hand and made a gesture that translated well no matter the culture. Yak, yak, yak. Will he ever shut up? Loki let himself grin at that, and Pepper returned with a mischievous smile of her own. "Do you have any idea how rare bank robberies in New York are? That's not an excuse to check." She sighed and rolled her eyes again. "You know, it's really adorable that you're getting this protective, but I think I can handle a ten minute walk without getting mugged." She began to drum her fingers on the table and Loki began to feel sorry for her. It seemed that Stark could talk even more than Fandral. "Tony, I'm hanging up now. I'll be back at the tower in twenty minutes." And with that she pressed one of the buttons and dropped the phone back into her bag.

"Sorry about that," she muttered before picking up her cup again.

"There is nothing to be sorry for," Loki replied, still smiling a little. "He is right to worry for your safety."

"Don't tell him that, he'll be insufferable." Pepper, bit her lip, her finger tapping against the white ceramic in her hands. "Do you know many people around here?" she asked, almost sounding nervous. Loki blinked in surprise.

"Not really, I have much to do and little time for making friends."

"Well, I get my lunch break at one during the week days. If you wanted some company you could meet me here."

"That," he began, almost choking on his own tongue as his mind worked at a mile a minute to try and work out what sort of ulterior motive she could have for this invitation. "I would be honoured to spend more time in your company," he said, finally. Not able to come up with anything that could be too harmful. "Though next time, I'm buying."

* * *

**A/N** Thank you to Emu (wow that one was a long review, nice and thorough), Trubie74, WritergirlAD, Hieiko and Jessica for reviewing. I greatly appreciate it. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter ^.^


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Family Matters

Why did Richards have to be out of town now? Doom was his boyfriend, it should be his job to deal with his hissy fit. Instead here Tony was, with the rest of the Avengers, flying around and taking pot shots at DoomBots. Also, on that note, what the hell kind of name for something was DoomBot? Shame on you Victor, _shame_. You were meant to be one of the top five most intelligent men on the face of this damn planet and you name an impressive feat of engineering a fucking Doom Bot.

Secondly, shame on you Victor VonDoom for your crappy and easily blown up design. Seriously, those things were easier to take down than the average tank and dodged about as well as one too. He had a horrible, horrible feeling that this was some sort of trial run for the damn things. At least it had better be for them to suck this much. Tony would be ashamed to send out something like this for anything more than a test to see what needed fixing first.

"_Stark! For fucks sake, will you quit it with the fucking technobabble_!" Clint snapped over the coms. Oops. Apparently some of that had been out loud. He really needed to start paying attention to when he was speaking and when he was thinking.

"_I don't know_," Cap panted, interrupted by a grunt and the sound of metal clanging against metal. "_It's kind of good to know that our inventor is better tha- Is that Loki?!_"

"_Tell me where Captain_," Thor's voice boomed. "_I would see for myself_."

"_Central Park. He's kind of, well, helping?_"

Now this he had to see. He shot off a few missiles and blasted off towards the park, picking off a DoomBot or two on his way. Where the hell were these things coming from anyway? And why wasn't this classed as Latverian military action against the USA? Seriously, he knew it was basically an ego clash between too painfully intelligent men that refused to do anything useful with that intelligence, but this was just fucking ridiculous.

Trees, trees, grass, lasers, grass, wait, too far. He circled back, staying high and scanning the fight. Loki was outnumbered and melee fighting with robots that had enough punch to knock Cap on his ass. And the fucker was winning. The way he moved was almost like a dance, even in his full ridiculous armour, horny helmet and swishy green cape included. Though in action it didn't look quite as stupid as he had thought it would.

He slammed the end of his staff spear thing into the ground and swung around it to kick one DoomBot into another in a move that even a Vegas stripper would be jealous of. Swinging the tip out of the earth, he split a DoomBot's metal skull in half in a mess of sparks and wires. Twirling around, he fired a blast of gold at another and ran the closest one through before kicking it off the end of his spear with a manic grin. The God did beautiful work, Tony almost felt guilty for interrupting the dance when he fired his repulsers at the robot that was just about to take a swing at Loki.

The God started laughing as he saw an Avenger land beside him, fighting against a common enemy. It was a cruel, manic laugh. The sort of laugh that only the truly unhinged would let out. It, well, it wasn't exactly comforting to have at his back while he was fighting, but he certainly couldn't say Loki wasn't a damn good fighter. He didn't see most of it, but the remaining DoomBots went down damn fast. The occasional flash of not quite there gold flickered at the edge of his vision and when they were done wires and shrapnel and circuit boards littered the grass.

"I believe that was the last of them," Loki said, wandering over to a more intact DoomBot to kick at it, sounding genuinely disappointed. He was breathing heavily, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with being tired. The manic light was still in his eyes as he glanced up to Tony with something almost like respect. "You fight well, I had not had the opportunity to witness you in battle before."

"Not so bad yourself Bambi," he replied with a grin that the God couldn't see. Loki tilted his head with a raised eyebrow, some of his armour glimmering out of existence along with his staff and cape.

"Bambi?" he asked, sounding more amused than anything else. "It's an improvement on Reindeer Games and Rock of Ages I suppose." Clearly Loki had no idea who Bambi actually was. Probably a good thing. Mostly it was good for Tony's continuing good health. "Do you have something against using someone's given name?" Tony shrugged, flipping the faceplate up so Loki could see his grin.

"Real names are boring," he replied flippantly. "So, what got you helping out?" The God of Mischief gave the wreckage another listless kick.

"I spend hours every night rebuilding this city," he replied with an annoyed sigh. "Patience is not exactly a quality I am known for and the menial repair already bores me without having to do it over and over again." His eyes flicked to the sky and a look of irritation crossed his features before being crushed down by a beguiling smile.

"And that is my cue to take my leave," he said with a bow and the return of his manic grin. "It was an honour to fight at your side Man of Iron." And with that, he turned on his heel and began to purposefully stride away.

Tony blinked in confusion and was about to ask why he wasn't teleporting when Thor crash landed into one of the most intact robots, dropped Mjolnir and ran at Loki with a gleeful cry of "Brother!" The God of Mischief had just enough time to turn with a sneer before Thor literally swept him off his feet and into a bone crushing hug, squashing his arms to his side and effectively leaving him no way to fight back.

"Unhand me you thundering oaf!"

"I worried for you brother," Thor replied with one final squeeze. Loki rolled his eyes but didn't say anything in response as he was set back on his feet, choosing instead to brush himself off as though he had come into contact with something unpleasant. "It heartens me to see that you are well." And then the God of Thunder apparently trod on Loki's last nerve when he clasped the back of the Liesmiths neck.

"Get your hand off of me," he snarled, batting his brother's hand away. "Just because I can tolerate fighting alongside you doesn't mean I am no longer angry with you!"

Oh, this was going to be awkward. At that Thor straightened up, matching Loki's angry expression. Yeah, really awkward.

"You angry with me? Brother, last time I spoke with you, you tried to stab me with a piece of broken pottery and threatened to mutilate me in ways that do not bare repeating!"

"Well, not holding my madness against me certainly lasted didn't it-"

"Oh if this is only about things that predate the Tesseract incident then I may as well remind you that you sent the Destroyer after-"

"Sif and the Warriors Three!" Loki interrupted. "That's who I sent it after, but by the time it got there-" He cut himself off with a ragged breath. "Do you know how long the friends you claimed were ours and not simply yours took to turn on me?"

"Loki-"

"Less than a day!" he snapped before Thor really had a chance to get a look in. "Sif would have struck me _in the throne room_ a mere four hours after the spear had been put in my hands! Seven hours since I had discovered-" Another shaky breath and he looked to his left hand, clenching his long elegant fingers into a first and eyes narrowed as though the appendage had personally insulted him. "My heritage." At that Thor winced, looking genuinely shamed, though no less angry.

"Guys," Tony said over the coms, locking Thor out as he did. "Might want to set a decent perimeter around this area. Thor and Loki are having a family moment."

"_I thought Loki was a friendly in this fight?"_ replied Clint.

"He was- is. They're just arguing right now but it looks like it's going to get nasty. Probably want to keep the civilians away," he said to the team, then he cleared his throat as Thor was yelling something with lots of pointing. "Hey guys, are yo-"

"You stay out of this!" they both yelled, manic anger filling both of them. That was a family thing then, not just a Loki thing. Fan-fucking-tastic. He raised his hands and took a step in the hopes of placating them slightly. He really didn't want to have to break up a fight between two Gods.

"I know not what you want of me brother!" Thor again. "What have I done spur on this rage?!"

"ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS NOT GO TO JOTUNHEIM!" Loki all but screeched, somehow managing to loom over his larger sibling as Thor seemed to deflate. The Thunder Gods face fell, going pale as he backed off a step. "If you had just stayed put as the Allfather had commanded then maybe you could've convinced me that you would be ready to rule in a few decades rather than centuries!"

"You were testing me brother?!" Thor snapped, the anger flaring back up. A strange shiver Loki's body and the next thing Tony knew the smaller God was throwing a punch. Thor threw his arm up to deflect, but the hit never made it home. Instead Loki threw his own balance off to swing wide, staggering to the side with a yelp of pain and clutching the left side of his head.

"Brother?" Thor said, taking a step closer and holding his hand out, clearly not really knowing what he was meant to do.

"Stay away Thor!" Loki snarled, his hand still on his head as he unsteadily walked away. "Just leave me be," he added, his voice quiet and as shaky as his steps.

That was when Tony made a decision, a potentially very stupid and life threatening decision. "JARVIS, let me out of this thing."

"Are you sure that's wise sir?" the AI ask, a note of concern in his voice.

"I'm sure it's not, but do it anyway." The AI didn't answer, but his suit whirred and opened up, allowing him to step out before it closed itself again. He didn't bother to take off the small head set, the single blue lens that covered one eye tinting half the world and the data still flowing. "Let me give it a try Point Break," he said, giving Thor what he hoped was a reassuring pat on the arm on his way past. He strode with a confidence he didn't really feel. He had seen Loki during that fight, and the argument with his brother, and he wasn't exactly convinced that Mischief over there was entirely stable.

"Hey, Bambi," Tony called out, catching up to him with ease and slinging his arm around the Gods shoulders. "You doing okay there?"

"What are you doing Stark?" Loki asked, his body tensing but his voice low and dejected, his hand still on his head.

"A little human custom, we call it showing concer- holy SHIT! Bambi, you're eye's bleeding!" Horror spread threw him at the red that was seeping out, already thickly coating the bottom eyelid.

"What?" the God asked, taking the hand from his head without stopping and pressing the heal of his palm against his eye only to draw it back with a confused frown. "So it is." Tony was having to take long strides to keep up with him while searching his pockets for a tissue or something. His fingers closed around a cotton handkerchief and he passed it over to the bleeding God, holding back a wince when he noticed the small streak of probably motor oil that marked it's otherwise pristine surface.

"So, what the hell just happened back there?"

"Will you stop following me if I tell you?" Loki said with a sigh, carefully wiping at his bloody eye.

"Maybe."

"What I wanted to do and what the tesseract wanted me to do were in alignment for once. What you witnessed was the tesseract trying to take control in a moment of weakness and me refusing to allow such a thing." He stopped walking, shook the handkerchief and handed it back to Tony. The engineer blinked in confusion at the somehow now clean bit of material. Fucking magic.

The God started walking again, his stride long and his steps once again steady. Tony had to walk as fast as he could to keep up with him, it was almost a jog. "You know, for a brief, wonderful moment I thought you might actually leave me be," Loki said, somewhat wistfully before Tony could even say anything.

"Yeah, not happening," he replied, doing his best to sound flippant. "I can be a seriously annoying asshole when I give a shit. You sure you're going to be okay? Need a ride anywhere?"

"Why do you care, Stark?" he snapped. Tony, put his hand on the Gods shoulder, hoping that he'd get the hint and stop since there was no way in hell that Tony was strong enough to make him.

"You don't get it," he said as the God stopped, seemingly in order to level a more effective glare at him. A glare that he easily ignored. "You saved _Pepper_. That makes me care. I don't give a shit about what Fury or the rest of the Avengers think, you saved Pepper when I couldn't." Loki's glare turned to a confused frown.

"You think her life more important than your own?" he asked.

"I think her life is more important than _anyone's_ life," Tony corrected. "You've been having lunch dates with her for two weeks, you can't tell me you can't see why." Loki shifted uncomfortably as Tony watched him.

"They are not dates," he corrected almost reluctantly. "She is merely a friend." Tony grinned. Yeah, Pep was working her magic alright. He had sounded somewhat defensive, almost as though he was preventing Pep's honour from coming into question.

"Nice to know you're still on the market," Tony said before he could stop himself. Oh fuck, what the hell was wrong with him? He had even poured on the charm. Loki blinked in surprise, before his eyes drifted to the hand that Tony still rested on the Gods shoulder. A slow lopsided smile that was pure and wonderful sin bloomed on Loki's lips as his gaze made its way to Tony's face and oh fuck apparently he wasn't the only one that was a compulsive flirt.

"Why Stark," he all but purred. Seriously, that voice should illegal. "I had no idea I should be guarding my virtue around you."

"What can I say," Tony replied, meeting the challenge because he didn't know what was good for him but he sure as hell wasn't going to stop first. Now he just needed to not mention the helmet. "It's the leather, it's just too hard to resist." Success!

"Such an honourable hero," Bambi replied sarcastically. "As much as I would _love_ to continue this delightful discussion my dear, I was already running late when I noticed those detestable contraptions."

"So how come you're not teleporting out?" he asked before he could stop himself. Loki sighed, turning his eyes towards the sky.

"My mind must be clear for me to perform such magic's, and at the moment it is anything but clear."

"Well, that sucks. So do you want me to call my driver and have him drop you off at that cafe you and Pep like? I can call her and let her know you're going to be late as well." The God blinked at him in shock.

"That is a kindness that I would not ask for."

"Good, I wouldn't be able to offer if you did," he replied with as charming a grin as he could manage. "And then how would I look like a proper gentleman?" Then after flicking his head piece to make sure it was still working, he said, "Jarv? Let Happy know that he has someone to pick up and send a message to Pep telling her that Bambi is going to be late."

"_Of course sir_," replied the AI. "_Shall I let her know that you are both well?"_

"Sure, why not. Don't want to worry her." And with that, he slung his arm around Loki's shoulder again and began to guide him away from the battle ground. "Let me walk you to the car," he said to the stunned and spluttering God. "And don't try and argue, I _always_ get what I want."

* * *

**A/N** Thank you to dreamsingreen, j-mercuryuk, Trubie74, Hieiko and Lady Galaxious for reviewing the previous chapter. It's always good to hear from people that have read my work.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Earning a Living

Was there a God of coffee, Pepper wondered as she tapped her foot, waiting for the elevator to arrive. After the morning she had had, she was impatient to get out for her lunch. Her wonderful little daily ritual was tauntingly close. Just an hour of sitting with Loki, eating her lunch, drinking good coffee and bitching about work while Loki complained about how boring his life had apparently become. Then after their mutual bitch fit he would tease her about-

The door to the elevator slid open with a ping.

Her crush on Captain America. Who was stood in the elevator right now and looking at her with an almost boyish and shy smile. All tall and blond and muscular and-_Fuck!_

"Hi Steve," she said, trying to sound as chipper as she could after doing all that damn paperwork while her heart began to pick up speed.

"Miss Potts," he replied as she stepped in. "Going down?" _Oh I wish_, she thought.

"Right down to the lobby," she said instead. "And I've told you, call me Pepper." His smile turned self conscious as he ducked his head while looking at her out of the corner of his eye in that adorable way he had.

"Sorry, Pepper," he said, his cheeks starting to tint pink. "Force of habit." The part of her that was apparently still a flailing teenage girl squealed with joy at the use of her name and she allowed herself to smile a little more widely before turning her eyes to the slowly decreasing floor number.

"Going anywhere interesting or just out for a walk?" she asked, mostly to fill the silence.

"Oh, erm. I was just going to take a look at an art store that Jarvis told me about." Art store? Seriously, was this guy even real?

"That sounds nice," she replied. And it did, a man with a hobby that couldn't kill him? It sounded like a dream come true. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking awkward for some reason as the floor number dipped into the twenties.

"Erm, Pepper?" he said after clearing his throat, having trouble meeting her eyes. "I was wondering, well, would you like, I mean would you?" His shoulders slumped a little and he let out a sigh before drawing himself up straight again and _oh_ him going into full Captain America mode really should not have been this hot. "I was wondering if you would like to go for dinner or maybe to see a movie on Saturda-"

"Yes," she said entirely too quickly. Then she realised how that must have sounded and cleared her throat, sweeping a few strands of hair out of her face and added, "I mean, I'll need to check my schedule, but yes, I would very much like that." Her heart was beating so far that she thought it might burst out of her chest and a nervous goofy smile had spread across Steve's face.

"Great," he said, sounding breathless as the elevator came to a stop and the door slid open.

"I'll call you when I've looked in my diary," she told him, already knowing that if there was anything she would take a leaf out of her technically still bosses book and blow it off in favour of having a life. They stepped out of the elevator, Pepper only becoming aware of how wide the smile she was wearing was when she noticed the ache in her face. They stole glances at each other like a couple of high school kids on their way through the lobby, Pepper giddy enough to ignore her nerves and steal a quick hug that had Steve turning bright red before they went their separate ways.

Pepper's pace was quick and bouncy as she made her way to the cafe and she had to force herself not skip so she wouldn't end up breaking her ankle with the shoes she was wearing. She hadn't felt this ridiculously happy since she had been in her early twenties.

Still grinning, she pushed the door to the cafe open, sliding past some kid fiddling with their iPod then turned her eyes to the people seated at the tables. Her good mood faded slightly when she didn't spot Loki. He had only ever been late once and that was because of the incident with the DoomBots a few days ago. He was always here before her so he could grab the table for two by the window before the lunch rush. Except he wasn't sat at that table.

Instead there was a woman, a book held in one hand with the other resting on her thigh. Her legs were crossed and she was wearing leather trousers with knee high chunky boots and a green silk blouse. Her black hair was swept back, her features pointed and her skin pale. Actually, looking at her she looked a lot like Loki. She could easily pass for his sister. And wasn't that the book he had been reading yesterday, not to mention that was how Loki always sat and the clothes were definitely something she could see him wearing if the blouse was a shirt instead.

Then they looked up, straight at her, and smiled and God that smile was pure Loki. There was no mistaking it anywhere. "Are you planning on standing there all day my dear?" she asked, her accent and inflection exactly like the God of Mischief's and even the voice had some similarities. Pepper walked towards her, slightly unsure.

"Loki?" she asked, not sure what answer she wanted.

"Who else would I be?" she replied, the condescension in her tone all the evidence Pepper needed as she watch the hands with their long elegant and familiar yet utterly foreign at the same time fingers folding the edge of the cheap paperbacks page and closing the book.

"Oh I don't know," Pepper replied as she set her handbag on the floor by the table and pulled out her chair. "Some random woman I've never met before." Loki blinked in confusion before a look of dawning realisation spread across her (his?) face.

"Oh, had I not told you of my shape shifting?"

"No, you hadn't," she replied. Then after a pause she asked, "Why a woman?" Loki gave an elegant shrug.

"I was bored and I could." Pepper rolled her eyes at that. If the last couple of weeks had taught her anything about the mostly tight lipped God it was boredom was an excuse for almost anything in their eyes. Pepper still felt sorry for the woman who had made a bitchy comment about her shoes and ten minutes later had a hissing snake coiled in her cup instead of a cappuccino.

"Anyway," the God (Goddess? Or was God a title?) leaned forward, elbows on the table and fingers twining together as their smile turned slightly sly. "What could possibly have you skipping down the street like a love struck child on the eve of maidenhood?"

* * *

Natasha sat down with her coffee, watching the cafe across the street. She was relatively sure that she was sat in a position that would at least partly hide her and the fact that Loki and Pepper weren't looking for her was an advantage. She had managed to make sure she had a good view of the pair of them. Which was proving interesting if not incredibly educational.

For a start, apparently Loki could shape shift yet for some reason had chosen to only change their sex. Those boobs really could not be missed, even from across the street, but neither could the fact that it was still totally and completely Loki, just a slightly softer feminine version. The body language and perfect poise was absolutely unmistakable.

What was strange was the way the God relaxed in the CEO's presence. It was a slight and subtle shift, a minuscule drop of one shoulder that had them looking so much more open, but only to the person right in front of them. Natasha took a sip from her coffee and forced herself not to pull a face, wishing she was in the cafe she was watching instead, as Loki leaned forward in an almost conspiratorial manner. Oh God, Pepper and Loki working together, that was a horrifying thought. Natasha doubted there would be a force on Earth that could stop them.

Except apparently this wasn't working together and Pepper flushed bright red and started talking, obviously rushed and embarrassed but also very happy about something. If only she were close enough to lip read, but that was more Clint's forte than hers. Still, at least she could see the growing amusement, not just on Loki's face, but their entire body. Shoulders shaking slightly with repressed laughter before finally just letting it out. Pepper glared and kicked the God under the table but they didn't even notice. They just kept laughing.

It didn't look like the laugh she had seen in the footage of the fight with the DoomBots. This just looked like someone laughing at a friend. There was no mania, no madness, just mirth. It was strange, she hadn't thought Loki could laugh like that.

Pepper kicked them again, really putting her strength behind it and the God finally noticed, clamping a hand over their mouth and leaning down to rub at their leg, their shoulders still shaking. From the look of it, most of their hour together was spent either making fun of each other or complaining about things. All in all they looked like any pair of friends might. Loki even got up to give Pepper a quick hug and place a very formal looking kiss on her knuckles when the CEO got up to leave.

The God of Mischief's body language closed off the moment Pepper was out the door and they had sat back down. There was a distinct _look but don't touch, mortals_ vibe that they were giving off as they picked their book back up and started reading again. Right about now Natasha started hoping that Loki would teleport wherever they were off to next or she would've wasted more time on this than she cared to think about and would have to put up with Fury's disappointed look and _no one_ wanted to put up with that.

Two hours. Two hours the bastard just sat there reading, occasionally looking at their watch and stopping twice to buy more coffee. Natasha had long since switched onto diet coke by then, not being able to stomach the appalling coffee after getting used to fancy stuff that Tony bought. He had even taught her to use the barista machine that sat in the communal kitchen.

Finally the God got to their feet, casually disappeared the book and shrugged on the long leather jacket that had been stripped of its armour and draping a cream scarf around their neck before walking out of the cafe. Natasha followed. Loki was easy to trail, not even trying to be stealthy or discrete. Even as a woman Loki was tall. Supermodel tall, though most definitely had too much curve to be another clothes horse.

The God walked as though they owned the city, moving easily through the people that were going about their business. Staying unnoticed was easy until Loki turned down an alley way. That was when she needed to stay far enough behind that if the God turned to look she would be around a corner and keeping her footsteps light.

This was the nerve wracking part. It would be so easy to lose Loki in this maze of alleyways and she still wasn't familiar enough with the city for this to be easy. Unfortunately it seemed that Loki's repair work had given them an intimate knowledge of the place.

Each turn he got just a little further away and if he didn't reach his destination soon she was going to lose him. It was infuriating. The bastard knew he was being followed, she just knew it. This was too much like watching an artist at work for this to just be the way he moved. Then again, according to Thor, Loki was practically the original infiltrator with a few thousand years of practice under their belt.

One more corner and all she saw of the God was a swish of leather disappearing behind brick and Natasha _ran_. Her tread was cat like and silent, but she couldn't lose him now, not after she had spent the better part of an afternoon tracking him.

She held back a curse as she rounded the corner and Loki was nowhere in sight. How he had even managed to disappear in a long alley Natasha had no idea, though she sure as hell would like to know. She doubted he was hiding behind the pile of trash bags that had been staked against the wall. Maybe he had teleported after all.

The sound of shattering glass and a scream had her looking up just in time to watch in horror as a man fell at high speed towards the floor, the shards of glass surrounding him glittering in the orange light of the setting sun. He collided with the pile of trash and Natasha ran over to him, almost forgetting stealth. She could hear a fight above her but those noises came to an end as she reached the guy.

He was lying upside down on the bags as she reached out and placed her fingers to his throat to check his pulse. She found it easily, but the guy, scruffily dressed and weary faced, didn't stir. Not dead then, just out cold. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing considering why Fury wanted her to tail Loki in the first place.

Her eyes turned upwards, first spotting the fire escape on the outside of the building and then the broken window six floors up. Well, at least she knew how to get in.

* * *

Loki ignored the four thugs tied together with a chain that used to be a hideous rug that had deserved to be transformed, focusing instead on counting their ill gained coin. The copious amount of drugs that were in the squalid apartment he would leave for the city guards.

A smirk tilted Loki's lips and they turned to face the window. "I was wondering when you'd come to join me," she said, not even trying to keep the amusement out of her voice as the Black Widow stood, feet apart and arms crossed exactly as they had been on the hellicarrier. "Your dedication is impressive. I don't think I could have managed nearly four hours in that dreadful cafe when there was a far superior establishment just across the street." Her eyes narrowed by the tiniest fraction and Loki had to actively put effort into not laughing.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice flat and impassive and deadly. It was adorable, really.

"Earning a living my Lady Romanov," she said, using the handful notes to gesture. "Even a God needs to eat. Well, that and I do so enjoy irritating the King Pin." The only change was the slightest tilt of her head. Oh this could be fun. Was the Widow really trying to do this again while Loki had a perfectly clear mind? It would be interesting to see how they really matched up. She may not have had centuries of practise, but she was certainly a natural.

"So it is you that's been robbing the drug dealers and leaving them for the police." Again, her tone was flat and body language tightly controlled.

Fear. That was interesting. She was afraid and doing all the wrong things to hide it. Or maybe she was being purposefully misleading in a way she knew another expert would pick up. So she opened up her own body language just the tiniest fraction. Tilted her head a little and adding the tiniest slouch to try and seem smaller, less intimidating. Less dangerous.

With a small sigh and flashier than needed hand wave, Loki tucked away the money with her staff and the casket. "On Asgard their crimes would be by far more harshly punished. Was it Director Fury that sent you?" A single brisk nod, not even enough for someone of her considerable skills to work with. She was good at masking herself and he had already seen her skill at misdirection.

"And what sort of punishment would leading an invasion of another realm get you?" she asked. Oh this one was fun.

"Have you ever heard of the Blood Eagle?" she asked. The smallest quirk of her eyebrow was the only answer she received. Loki made sure her own features were schooled into passiveness. "It's a method of torture and execution. The ribs are cut beside the spine, then broken so that they resemble blood stained wings, then the lungs are pulled through the wounds in the back and salt is rubbed into the cuts." She allowed a small rueful smile as the blood drained from Natasha's face. Some things could not be hidden or controlled, though she did an admirable job of keeping the rest of her stoic. "Fortunately Asgard takes the extenuating circumstances of mind control and coercion very seriously."

"Sounds like you were almost lucky," the Black Widow said, her voice a perfect deadpan.

Loki couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.

"_Almost lucky_," she manage to gasp as she calmed herself down. "I like that, it could sum up so much of my existence." She cleared her throat and forced down the remains of amusement, ready to get down to business. "Oh, while you're here, there is something I've been meaning to do." The assassin's body tensed by the smallest of fractions, eyes narrowing slightly. More fear. Really, if Loki had wanted to kill her she would have been dead before Pepper had arrived for lunch. Well, might as well get this over and done with one way or the other.

Taking a deep breath to steal herself, Loki lowered herself to her knees and rested her arms on her thighs, palms facing up and head bowed.

"I have wronged you Natasha Romanov, Black Window." She made her tone carefully humble yet formal, this sort of apology had to be done right. Had to be perfect, even if it was rejected or if his idiot brother had only told Stark how to properly accept. "I threatened you in a manner unbecoming someone of my station. It was a personal insult that I should not have issued. I have wronged you and I offer my apologies and a gift should you accept it in order to repay this slight." Silence followed, like it always did. Loki swallowed as memories of a needle fought to take over. The wait had been long then. Not as long as he'd waited for Stark, but still long enough to let her know that it wasn't going to be pleasant.

Then the silence is filled with a low hum and the crackle of electricity and oh this was not going to be pleasant.

The punch was pathetic by the standards Loki was used to. She had encountered children that hit harder. Asgardian children, but still children. She lets her head whip to the side anyway so she doesn't break the assassins hand. It' not the punch that hurts. It's the bite of electricity. It ripples through her like venom. It doesn't last long, but that's a virtue of not being human. Their weapons rarely did anything substantial to someone like Loki.

Rubbing the side of her face, Loki looks up to Natasha with a wry smile, one the spy even returns while holding out her hand. Loki clasps the humans forearm while rising, but doesn't use the assistance to get up. She even catches sight of the strange weapon clasped onto her wrist, mostly hidden by the sleeve of her jacket.

"I must say, I'm surprised you accepted." The spy shrugged in response.

"I've been where you've been," she says, not meeting his eyes and it's obvious that the game is over. It's also obvious that she doesn't quite mean the Chitari. There is still a tightness to her body language, of control that she doesn't know how to let go of and perhaps that's what the fear really was. "I was there for longer, though maybe it wasn't quite as bad. But I get it. I know what it is to have to pull the trigger or die. And I know what having red in your ledger is like." Something twisted almost painfully in her chest and her smile turned a little sad.

"You do, don't you," she replied with a small sigh. She didn't allow it to linger long though. "Enough of this, I promised you a gift." Natasha cocked her head in question as Loki easily pulled out a box a couple of inches longer than the other woman's forearms and a little wider. She held it out to the assassin who took it without even a moment's hesitation. It took effort to not raise an eyebrow at that. The red head opened it with care, her eyes widening at the sight.

Loki knew what was in there. She had spent long enough crafting them. A pair of vambrace, black and none reflective with her symbol in a pleasing shade of red on the part that covered the back of her hands.

"They're beautiful," she said, the words coming out as a breath and filled with awe.

"They're deadly," Loki amended. "There are instructions on how to use them properly in the box as well. If you can't read my hand writing, get Thor to help. He may be an idiot, but he's not illiterate. I would also recommend that you don't use them in the field until you've mastered them. They have a lot more power than those little bracelets you're used to."

"Thank you," she said, turning her eyes back to Loki. They were honest, earnest and completely open. No misdirection, no mask. No lies. Just open gratitude.

It was strange to see and even stranger to see it directed at her. Oddly uncomfortable yet gratifying in a way that boarded on torture. Squashing down any body language that might let her discomfort be seen, Loki replied with a casual "You're welcome," then teleported away before Natasha could say anything else.

* * *

His tongue was sticking out as Jake tried to get onto that fucking platform. "Come on you fucker!" he yelled at the TV, tilting the Xbox controller and leaning to the side as he pressed the jump button frantically.

"A creature of class, as always, I see," said Loki, appearing on the arm of the couch.

"Shit!" The controller fell from his hands and scrabbled away, clutching at his chest as his heart beat to fast it felt like it was trying to rips itself out of his chest. "Fuck, Lokes, warn a-"

Faster than he could blink, Loki had his hand around his throat and a snarl on his lips. His eyes bulged as the God slowly backed him into the wall.

"Jake, what did I tell you about calling me that?" Loki said, their voice lighter, more feminine as he scrambled for his emergency Loki calmers in his pocket, his throat burning.

"Said you'd strangle-" He coughed. "Throttle me." His hand closed around the stick and he desperately pulled it out, holding it before him like a crucifix. Loki's eyes fixed on the lollypop with suspicion, their grip on his throat loosening a little. With an irritate huff of breath, the God let go and quickly snatched the offered sweet.

"It's insulting that you think me this easily placated," the God said, sounding slightly sulky as they pulled off the wrapper to the lollypop- and _oh_. That's what was different.

"Feeling feminine today then." Loki shot him a half hearted glare and popped the sweet into her mouth, using the stick to spin it around. As if watching that wasn't bad enough when they were a guy, it came damn close pornographic when they were a chick and the worst part was that they weren't even aware of it. "You look good by the way. You're hair's nice." Loki slid the lolly out of her mouth and looked at him with scepticism.

"Really, Jake?"

"Wow, you must be feeling like shit if flattery isn't doing anything." The God just rolled her eyes and waved her hand, summoning a wad of bank notes into the air and catching them with practised ease before tossing them to him. Jake caught them with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't think you'd be getting around to it that quickly." Loki shrugged. Then flinched and stumbled.

"How is that useful in any way?!" she snapped, glaring at the floor.

"The sight again?" Jake asked, slipping the money into his pocket. The God nodded.

"I can see the top of a building and the sky. Oh, and a pidgeon." Loki shook her head then sighed and slumped into the couch. "Wonderful."

"Do you want a drink or anything while you wait it out?" The God's only response was to shake their head and start sucking on the lollypop again. Great, there was a grumpy God on his couch. He hated when this happened, which granted wasn't often, but it always reminded him of when they had first met. "I finished that extra project you asked me to do," he blurted out before he could stop himself, wincing as he did. Damn side effects, he hated them. He hated them even more when he saw the God freeze, eyes wide but expression painfully blank. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, Loki took the sweet from her mouth and sighed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"How many?" she asked, refusing to look at him. Oh fuck, Jake really didn't want to do this. Didn't want to say it. Loki was a dick to him, yes, but they had damn good reason and they did what no else could for him. They actually fucking _helped_.

"Six thousand eight hundred and forty three."

"What?" Loki said, sounding almost angry. Not exactly the reaction he was expecting. "That can't be right. They have to have killed more than that. Over eight million people live in New York City and the chitari couldn't even kill seven thousand." The God was on his feet now and fuck a lollypop wouldn't be enough to snap her out of this one. "I could kill more people than that on my own in an hour! What where they aiming at? The street signs?!" She sighed and dragged a hand over her face. "Do you have their names?" Jake nodded and scrambled over to his desk, pulling out the pen drive. He handed it over as Loki conjured up more money to hand over.

The anger had already faded as the God looked down to the little memory stick in their hand, something more like remorse settling in their eyes. Or perhaps regret, definitely a little sadness.

"I get it, you know," he said, watching the long elegant fingers close. "I know what _that_ is like." A long pause and Loki didn't answer. Jake felt himself fidgeting, shifting his weight. He could practically _feel_ another truth try and claw it's way up his throat as they stood. "I've started noticing blonds again," slipped out before he could stop it and Loki's eyes snapped up to meet his.

"How long?" she asked, her voice measured but tired.

"Just a couple of days," he replied with a shrug as his stomach churned. He hated this. Hated everything to do with this. Loki gestured for his hand and he complied without even thinking. The God took hold of his wrist, almost gentle, their eyes slipping closed as they focussed.

"You're not quite ready yet," Loki told him, her voice flat if not a little tired. "Three or four more days and I'll renew the spell." She turned her eyes to his face, something almost like concern there. "Can you last that long?" Jake shrugged.

"Do I have a choice?"

"That depends on if you can control yourself, I don't want you building up resistance to this too quickly." Fuck, he hated it when Loki actually let on that she cared. It was so much easier to cope if she was being a dick. "You know what the next step is after this," she added, her voice verging on soft.

"I think I can. I mean, it's only a few days." Loki gave a nod, letting go of his wrist. He watched the God, eyes drifting over her slowly. Her shoulders were slumped, her posture less stiff but no less proud. "You look tired," he said. More than that, Loki looked like the weight of the world was sat on her shoulders and had started to wear her down. "You want to stay here tonight? Save yourself a trip." A look of disgust spread across Loki's face before if falls away with a dramatic and irritated sigh and the God seems to deflate.

"It's probably for the best. I'll be gone by morning." With that, she dropped herself down onto the couch, slumping down yet still somehow managing to look graceful at the same time and closed her eyes. Even crossing her legs at the ankles as she spread them out.

"Mind if I keep playing?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"If I fall asleep now I doubt an invasion could rouse me," was the tired response he gained. Jake shrugged and picked up his controller. Twenty minutes later he was still stuck on the same bit that he had been before Loki had rudely interrupted and had been swearing for at least ten of those.

"Considering how much time you spend on that contraption," the God said from his side, one eye open. "You are terrible at these games."

"If you're so fucking perfect, why don't you try?!" he snapped, realising too late who he was talking to and how bad for his health those words could be. Loki let out a quiet chuckle and held her hand out for the controller.

And did it on their first try then handed the controller back with a wry smile and still only one eye open.

"You are an absolute dick."

* * *

**A/N** Thank you to Ordis, cara-tanaka, mrshultz,Hieiko, Moviemuncher, Trubie74, Kila and Francis Bonnifoy for reviewing the previous chapter.

Also, I've been getting a couple of people ask if this is a Pepper/Loki fic. I can see where that idea is coming from, but no. This is a Loki/Tony fic, it's just going to take a while to get there.

Thanks for reading and please review.


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